Australian rock legends Bernard Fanning and Paul Dempsey left ABC viewers divided Tuesday night as they performed at the network’s New Year’s Eve festivities.
The iconic musicians took the stage as new duo Fanning Dempsey National Park, a band they debuted this year with their first collaborative album Deluge.
Now the Powderfinger and Something For Kate frontmen have taken to the stage with a series of covers and original songs, but not all X viewers were happy to see them.
“Bernard Fanning singing These Days on #ABCNYE coverage really makes me not want to live to see the new year,” one person brutally wrote.
Another said: “Ancient witches Bernard Fanning and Paul Dempsey perform falsetto in a bloody brown suit.”
Despite some of the nasty comments left on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, fans turned out in droves to support the Australian rock legends.
Australian rock legends Bernard Fanning, 55 (right), and Paul Dempsey, 48 (left), left ABC viewers divided Tuesday night as they performed at the network’s New Year’s Eve festivities.
“I’m not a fan of ABC, but the Paul Dempsey and Bernard Fanning concert was perfect,” said one viewer at home.
‘Bernard Fanning and Paul Dempsey. Burning. Brilliant,” commented another.
A third wrote: “Hands down the best thing about ABC is Something for Kate and Bernard Fanning.” Running rings around the poor 9pm fireworks!
‘I’m really surprised at how good this year’s concert has been so far. “It didn’t even cross my mind that Bernard Fanning could sound like Bowie,” added one viewer.
Bernard, 55, and Paul, 48, took their new band public in Fanning Dempsey National Park earlier this year.
Shortly after, they debuted their first album, Deluge, with Disconnect as the name of its lead single.
Their live debut came just a few weeks later in October with the Deluge Tour, playing Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and returning to Brisbane again.
Bernard said in an Instagram video in May that debut single Disconnect was about walking away from a love that “no longer works for you.”
The iconic musicians took the stage as the new duo Fanning Dempsey National Park, a band with whom they debuted this year with their first collaborative album Deluge.
Paul later added: “This started out almost with a gospel feel, but with a few drafts the drums became punchier and the guitars became hookier.”
“Then we started throwing horns at everything and suddenly the party started.”
Bernard and Paul talked about two of rock’s greatest frontmen coming together to form a new band and said they wanted to defy expectations.
“We didn’t want it to sound like a Fanning or Dempsey record, we wanted it to sound like a band,” Bernard told the alphabet In May.
They developed the name Fanning Dempsey National Park to give the “feel of an organization bigger than the two of us.”
“It’s so pompous that it made us laugh every time we said it,” Paul joked.
Now the Powderfinger and Something For Kate frontmen have taken to the stage with a series of covers and original songs, but not all X viewers were happy to see them.
Despite some of the nasty comments left on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, fans turned out in droves to support the Australian rock legends.
Bernard and Paul have been friends for decades since their bands Powderfinger and Something For Kate first appeared on the alternative rock scene in the 1990s.
They became closer during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic when they made a viral video of themselves covering Queen and David Bowie’s classic duet, Under Pressure.
Bernard also provided vocals for Something For Kate’s song Inside Job from their 2020 album The Modern Medieval.
Since then, the pair said they have been “exchanging songs and ideas online” until they became their new rock band.
Powderfinger first formed in Brisbane in 1989, with the line-up consisting of Bernard, Darren Middleton, Ian Haug, John Collins and Jon Coghill from 1992 to 2010.
While the band officially broke up in 2010, they have reunited several times in recent years.
Meanwhile, Something For Kate was formed in 1994 by Paul and Clint Hyndman and Stephanie Ashworth joined in 1998. The band is still together.